What Does 1 Kings 13:15 Mean in the King James?

Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.
1 Kings 13:15 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

The offer of bread also asks him to change direction, enter another man’s home, and receive what that table gives.

You hear hospitality as movement and reception: come with me, enter my home, eat my bread. In this scene, the invitation presses against a boundary already given to the man, so a warm table becomes the setting where competing voices meet. The food makes the choice tangible.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A welcoming voice and a nourishing offer do not, by themselves, prove that the invitation aligns with what you have already been given.

אֱכֹל

ʾĕkhol

GROWS FROM

אכל

ʾ-k-l

eat, consume

The Hebrew root ⁨אכל⁩ (ʾ-k-l), meaning “eat,” also forms ⁨אֹכֶל⁩ (ʾōkhel), meaning “food.” The invitation asks the man not only to be present but to take nourishment from the speaker’s table.

ALSO GROWS

ʾākhal: to eat

אָכַל

The same root names the act the invitation asks him to accept.

ʾōkhel: food

אֹכֶל

The verb and the food share a root, joining the act of eating to what is received.

לֵךְ

lekh

GROWS FROM

הלך

h-l-k

walk, go

“come” in this verse is lekh. The invitation’s movement appears in ⁨לֵךְ⁩ (lekh), meaning “go,” from the root ⁨הלך⁩ (h-l-k), “walk, go.” The welcome is directional: go with this man to his house before eating at his table.

ALSO GROWS

halakh: to walk, go

הָלַךְ

The root keeps the invitation tied to movement, not only to a meal.

holekh: going, walking; one who goes

הוֹלֵךְ

This related form makes the embodied journey in the invitation visible.

Scripture repeatedly makes eating a form of reception that binds a person to a source, table, or relationship.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Genesis 3:6 · KJVEating here is a concrete act of receiving what the tree offers, with consequences that reach beyond hunger.
And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.
Ruth 2:14 · KJVAt Boaz’s table, eating expresses welcome and provision within a relationship.
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.
1 Corinthians 10:21 · KJVSharing a table is described as participation in what that table represents.
He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
1 Kings 13:18 · KJV

The same invitation to eat bread returns with a stronger claim: the speaker says an angel has given permission to bring the man back. That repetition reveals how the offer of a meal becomes a test of which voice he receives.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us